H-E-B plans double-decker grocery store in Meyerland Plaza

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Photo: Renderings Courtesy Of H-E-B

Image 2 of 3

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Photo: Renderings Courtesy Of H-E-B

Image 3 of 3

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Renderings of a two-story H-E-B to be built in the northwest corner of Meyerland Plaza. The 95,000-square-foot store will include a kosher bakery.

Photo: Renderings Courtesy Of H-E-B

H-E-B plans double-decker grocery store in Meyerland Plaza

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H-E-B will open an elevated supermarket in Meyerland Plaza, the sprawling shopping center and retail icon that has served residents in southwest Houston for 60 years.

The new store, to be built at the northwest corner of the center, is a show of confidence for the Meyerland neighborhood, which was inundated for the third time in three years when Hurricane Harvey's storms destroyed homes and businesses throughout the area.

The store will bring an additional grocery option long-desired by residents. For the large Jewish community centered in the area, the new H-E-B will have a kosher bakery serving breads, cakes, cupcakes and even kosher tortillas.

"Talk about fusion food. I think that may be a first in Houston," H-E-B president Scott McClelland said.

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The store represents a more than $21 million investment, McClelland said. It is expected open in fall 2019.

The Meyerland area has long been underserved by grocers, in part due to a lack of available space to put a large store, said Ed Page, managing partner of Streetwise Retail Advisors.

"It will tap a much larger customer base," Page said.

The plan to open a store in Meyerland Plaza has been in the works for years, said McClelland and the owner of the shopping center, Houston-based Fidelis Realty Partners.

Since the company bought the property in 2013, it has always hoped to add a grocery component, Fidelis executive vice president Lynn Davis said.

"The area has been begging for a good grocery store but there's no place to put one," she said. "It's all homes."

Longtime Meyerland resident Barbara Kile agreed it will be nice to have an H-E-B in the neighborhood because of its large selection of products. But she expressed concern Wednesday about the additional cars and traffic. She said she often shops at Belden's on North Braeswood nearby.

"I don't want to see the parking lot full every time I come. This time of year I'm here as early as I can get here just because of parking and people," Kile said. "So as much as I'm sure I would enjoy shopping at H-E-B, I do have the concern of just what it's going to do to the shopping center. I live very close and do a lot of shopping here, but if I can't park I'm not going to."

H-E-B has operated a smaller store in Meyerland at South Braeswood and Chimney Rock since the early 1990s, but after flooding in Harvey, the second time in three years, the company decided to close it for good.

Shawna Callaghan was angry when she heard H-E-B wouldn't re-open the store, concerned over how it would affect the area around it.

"We worry that it's actually going to increase crime in the neighborhood and bring down property values in that section," she said.

Even though Callaghan lives closer to Meyerland Plaza, she said she won't shop at the new H-E-B because the company left its other location.

The new 95,000-square-foot store will be built on and around the site of the former BBVA Compass Bank at Beechnut and Endicott.

It will built on stilts with two levels of parking. The first floor will have a curbside grocery pickup area, a store pharmacy and a replacement BBVA Compass Bank. The second floor will connect to the neighboring JCPenney via sky bridge.

Building the store on stilts was the only way to add enough space to the shopping center, Davis said. It was

"To add 95,000 square feet to an existing 900,000-square-foot shopping center is extremely difficult," she said. "There is no space. The only way we could have done that was to put it on stilts and put parking below it."

Davis said the land will have to be built up slightly for the new H-E-B development, and she said the company will comply will all city building regulations and that the project will include additional stormwater detention.

The construction process stands to be relatively complex.

Utilities will have to be rerouted and construction equipment will be housed in different areas at different times in an effort to keep the center operating as usual.

Tenants were recently notified on the construction process and schedule.

By and large the project was welcome news for existing tenants, Davis said.

"There have been things we've had to negotiate, but it's been all very agreeable," she said.

Despite the flooding to some stores in Meyerland Plaza, holiday decorations were hung and the center was busy Wednesday morning.

Leaving Target with a cart full of bags, Yisela Martinez was almost giddy when she learned of the new H-E-B.

"Are you kidding me? I didn't know that," she said. "That's so exciting!"

Martinez is a personal assistant for a Jewish family in Bellaire and she usually shops for them at the H-E-B near South Rice and Bissonnet, though she often has to make trips elsewhere to find everything they need.

When she was told the new store would have a kosher baker, her smile widened.